Of Darker Skies
by TickTockNelly
Summary: When Draco Malfoy fails to report to school at the beginning of seventh year, everyone gets worried, even the dream team. But nobody could have ever imagined why he wasn’t there.HPGW, DMHG
1. Chapter 1

Hey, my name is TickTockNelly and I'm a new Harry Potter writer. I hope you guys all enjoy this story and so I guess I better get on with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters from the books.

Summary: When Draco Malfoy fails to report to school at the beginning of seventh year, everyone gets worried, even the dream team. But nobody could have ever imagined why he wasn't there.

Pairings: Harry and Ginny throughout the entire story

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger towards the end

PROLOGUE:

The boy's short, blonde hair was matted with so much blood that it looked to be a natural red. He lay, face down, bleeding profusely on the floor, barely breathing. It was another time when his father had brought him closer to death than he could ever want to be; and he was only seventeen years old.

A woman, about thirty seven years old, with platinum blonde hair matching the boy's, stepped into the dungeon where he lay and gasped, running over to kneel down next to her only son.

She turned his body over and looked at the cuts and bruises, the slashes, the blood that was taking over the boy's body.

"Oh, Draco," she whispered.

EARLIER THAT DAY:

Draco Malfoy had spent almost the entire morning outside helping his mother do the gardening, and grumbling about it as well. But Narcissa Malfoy knew that it was just an act, it always was, and that he had enjoyed spending the time with her.

Draco and his mother never brought up his father unless they saw him or Draco had just received a severe beating from him; they preferred to stay in their little dream world where everything was okay in their family. After all, if anyone knew what Lucius did to Draco, then both he and his mother would be killed.

Lucius Malfoy had left the manor at eight o'clock that morning, not to be home for hours, or so they thought. Draco had just reentered the manor when he came face to face with his father.

"Hello, Draconis," His father said nastily. "What were you just doing?"

A terrified Draco felt unable to speak, the fear he felt towards his father causing him to have a big lump in his throat. "I, uhmm, I was helping mother plant her flowers." As soon as the words left Draco's mouth he regretted them.

With manic eyes, Lucius angrily grabbed his son by the throat and lifted him off the ground, he then proceeded to throw Draco down the stairs to the dungeon and closing and locking the door.

Draco tried lifting his head but he was in far too much pain. He felt completely unable to move and he just wanted to take back what he had said to his father. He could feel himself blacking out and all he could think about was that the very next day was September the 1st and he would be off to Hogwarts.

Ten minutes later the door to the dungeons opened and Lucius Malfoy descended the stairs to look at his battered son. With a flick of his wand, Draco Malfoy was suddenly in chains by the wall.

Lucius slapped Draco hard across the face, causing him to awake. "Well, look at this, I have a weakling for a son." Lucius started kicking and punching Draco as though he were a punching bag, and Draco was trying hard not to scream as he was already in pain from his fall down the stairs. But Draco knew what was coming when his father stood back and pointed his wand at him. He closed his eyes, waiting, terrified, for the curse.

"CRUCIO."

"Harry, Ron!" Hermione Granger ran to her two best friends and practically jumped into Harry Potter's arms, and the Ron Weasley's.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry greeted putting his arm around Ron's sister (and his girlfriend) Ginny Weasley who had just come up to greet Hermione. "How was Canada?"

Hermione had visited each Canadian province over the summer, and had loved none more than Prince Edward Island.

"I loved it, it was so pretty," Hermione said with a smile, "and look," she reached into her bag and pulled out a miniature Canadian flag. "I'm going to put this by my bed," she grinned, "In my new Head Girl quarters."

Ginny shrieked and Harry and Ron looked pleased that Hermione was Head Girl. That meant that she had to share living quarters with the head boy though, and they figured that they'd miss her. They all silently wondered who the head boy was going to be.

They heard the sound of the train starting and rushed to get on. They just made it before the train started moving; the only problem was finding a compartment. They found one at the very end of the hall and rushed in and closed the door.

"Welcome to Hogwarts: Year Seven," the Boy-Who-Lived said with a grin.

Two hours later they were sitting at the Gryffindor table talking, after the sorting.

"I am pleased to announce, to my newcomers and coming-back-ers," Stated Professor Albus Dumbledore, rising from his seat at the head table, "That our Head Boy this year is Draconis Malfoy from the Slytherin house," there was some clapping, but it was mostly people looking around and wondering where exactly their Head Boy was. Professor Dumbledore had a tint in his eye that showed some worry over the absence. "And our Head Girl of 2005 is none other than Miss Hermione Granger from the Gryffindor house." Cheering erupted as people started yelling their congratulations across the hall. "And on one last note before we eat, I would like to see our Head Girl, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley in my office after dinner. Tuck in."

Hey, I hope that you liked it. Reviews are very much appreciated, I'll post another chapter as soon as I get some reviews for this one. I know it was short but hopefully the other ones won't be so short. Thanks a lot.

TickTockNelly


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, thank you so much for those nice reviews, here is the next chapter of my story Of Darker Skies (I know it's not the best title but it was all I could think of). Anyway, this chapter should be longer than the other one and I hope you enjoy it. No flames please.

Of Darker Skies: Chapter 2

TickTockNelly

Summary Chapter 2: In this chapter the trio has a talk with Dumbledore about Draco.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J. K. Rowling.

Harry, Hermione and Ron made their way to Dumbledore's office after dinner; all wondering silently what was going on.

"I think that it has something to do with Malfoy," Hermione said.

"Nah," Harry responded indignantly, with a proud sniff, "He just wants to congratulate you on becoming Head Girl in person, and he invited us because he knew that we'd come anyways."

"I agree with Harry on this Hermione," Ron said as they neared the great stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office. "Who cares why that bloody git isn't here anyways."

Hermione didn't answer as they stopped at the gargoyle. "We have to try out some passwords."

"Fizzing Whiz bees," Ron tried. Nothing.

"Chocolate Frogs," Harry said. Nothing.

"Smarties," Hermione offered. That was it; the gargoyle started shaking and moved to produce a staircase. They used this staircase to get to Dumbledore's office.

The door was already open and they let themselves in to the empty room. Mere minutes passed before the door opened and Dumbledore came in, with an expressionless look on his face, and sad eyes.

"I would just like to congratulate you, Miss Granger, in person for becoming this year's Head Girl, and a fine one I'm sure you will make," He said with a smile as he sat down at his desk.

Harry shot Hermione an I-Told-You-So look which elicited an evil glare from his friend.

"But, sir," Hermione started, biting her lip, "I was just wondering where Malfoy is. I mean, he is Head Boy."

Dumbledore's happy face turned sad and back to happy in mere seconds, like he didn't want to show what he was thinking.

"I am quite sure that young Mr. Malfoy will show up sooner rather than later, Miss Granger. And as he is Head Boy and you shall be sharing room, I think that you would be happy not to have him here."

"I am," Hermione said, "But I'm just worried. I mean, sure I hate the guy, but I can't stop wondering what his home life is like with a father like his. It makes me wonder when he doesn't show up for school whether or not he can." Harry and Ron were shocked at her thoughts and sat there dumbfounded whilst the professor answered.

"My dear Hermione," he said with a small sigh, "It is said that we cannot see the signs of abuse in a home unless we look in through the window, that we cannot understand the pain of the victim unless we are the victim, but in young Mr. Malfoy's case I believe that even the tiniest hint he could give anyone about it would only elicit more from his father."

"You see, Miss Granger, not everyone has a good home life, and some people don't like to talk about it at all. There are some that really act as though there is nothing sacred in their life and that all is not well when it is. I do believe highly, and I have for a while, that young Mr. Malfoy endures much pain at home."

"You see, my dear, I have known Draco his whole life, and whenever I see him when there isn't anybody around that could tell his father, he is the most charming and caring person I've yet to meet. I know that at times Draco is under the Imperius curse and I know that Draco only acts mean because of fear of what his father would do to him if he didn't. But what I do not know, is exactly what Mr. Malfoy does to his son."

"So what you're saying is that Mr. Malfoy, he really does hurt Malfoy then?" Ron asked.

"Ah yes, of that I am sure. I have seen him when he is hurt and I can tell you that it is one of the saddest things I have seen in my life. Such a nice child, Draco is, if it weren't for his father." Dumbledore told them looking at each of them in turn. "You see, many times we believe what we think and pay little to no attention to what it is that we might know if only we paid closer attention."

"So what you're saying is that sometimes we can be completely blind to those signs that we could have seen have we been paying attention." Harry said with interest. "But we weren't paying attention, so the signs that would otherwise be hard to see were impossible."

"Correct, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. "As a great Wizard Philosopher once said: You cannot view what lies in front of thyself until you view what lies within thyself; that would mean that you cannot see things of others until you truly understand yourself, but you also need to be paying attention."

"I feel really horrible," Hermione said sadly, "I mean, sure he's been a git to us, but we haven't been much better. I just can't believe what his father does to him. How come he never looks like he's been hurt?"

"Young Mister Malfoy has a lifelong prescription to what is known as a concealment potion. He drinks some and you cannot see any signs of the abuse at all."

"Does Malfoy know that you know about it?" Ron asked interestedly.

"I think that young Mr. Malfoy has a feeling that I know about it, but whenever I try to bring it up, the poor boy begs me not to tell anyone and not to talk about it. The fear he has from his father I think is almost turning into complete paranoia whenever senior Mr. Malfoy is present."

"Wow, that's a lot to take in in three minutes," Hermione said, rubbing her temples. "I find this almost completely unbelievable, yet believable at the same time."

"Ah, Miss Granger, the things that are said to be such easy things to believe is also often the hardest." Dumbledore replied. "You should never judge a book by its cover, or a person by their actions, you should always judge foremost on the little things that show who that person really is. With young Mister Malfoy, I find it to be his eyes. Whenever he's doing something mean, something that he doesn't want to do, his eyes have sparks of guilt and sadness in them. It was his eyes that first showed me the signs of his abuse, and it is his eyes that will first show you who he really is."

That was the end of their conversation with Dumbledore. They left his office not speaking any words and contemplating his kind words. As much as they each tried to tell themselves that Dumbledore was lying and that Draco was none other than the mean kid he pretended to be, they all knew in their hearts that Dumbledore was not lying. And the only thing that each of them were thinking of as they made their way into the Head common room was what Lucius Malfoy had done to Draco to make him not able to come to school.

"Is anyone else finding this a little unbelievable?" Ron asked as they all sat around the fire. "I mean, I know that it's true, I can totally believe that Mr. Malfoy does that, but I just can't believe that Malfoy is able to just hold it in, hide the pain, and never show anyone what is happening. I wonder what it must be like to wake up afraid of what your father can and will do to you, you know?"

"It must be completely terrifying," Harry said, "To wake up and wonder whether your father was going to kill you that day."

"Now, now, boys," Hermione said sternly, "We mustn't overanalyze this, I have to see if I can speak to Draco when he comes back to school and see if he'll tell me anything. If Professor Dumbledore is correct, than Draco should be nice to me if I promise not to tell anyone about it that can pass the news on to his father."

"So, what then," Ron asked, "We just wait until Draco comes to school?"

NEXT CHAPTER:

"Do you realize how _bad of an idea this is_?" Harry hissed at Hermione as they stood outside the gates of Malfoy Manor under the guise of the Invisibility Cloak.

"I don't care," Hermione huffed, "We have to get Draco out."

Hey, I hope you all enjoyed reading this and I'll post the new chapter once I get some more reviews. I was going to put what is above in this chapter but then I thought it would be better to have its own chapter. TickTockNelly


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